In January, Preston Tucker’s personal Tucker 48, serial number 1029, will roll across the auction block at the RM Sotheby’s 2018 Arizona sale. Here’s a preview of the important offering.  

 

 

Every Tucker 48 automobile is special, it goes without saying. Only 51 examples were produced by the Tucker Corporation in 1948  before the company closed its doors, ending one of the most colorful and controversial chapters in automotive history. However, this Tucker, serial number 1029, is more special than most. For seven years, from 1948 to 1955, it was the personal automobile of Preston Tucker himself,  then became the daily driver of future Arkansas governor WInthrop Rockefeller, and also starred in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1988 Hollywood biopic, Tucker: The Man and His Dream. 

 

 

And now, with only 19,999 miles showing on the odometer at consignment, Tucker no. 1029 will soon be crossing the block at the RM Sotheby’s Arizona 2018 Sale in Phoenix on January 18-19. The auction company’s experts have placed a pre-sale estimate of $1.25 million to $1.5 million on the Tucker, which will be sold without reserve. Here’s a closer look at the car RM Sotheby’s calls “in every way, the ultimate Tucker automobile.”

 

 

Finished in Tucker color code no. 500, a rich silver-gray, Tucker no. 1029 was the actual car used in the original Tucker factory promotional film, The Tucker: The Man and The Car. As every Tucker fan knows, there is no engine under the dramatically sculpted hood (above). The powerplant is in the rear and the nicely finished front compartment serves as the “trunk.” Another novel Tucker feature was the additional center headlamp, which was coupled to the steering linkage and designed to pivot with the front wheels.

 

 

The Tucker’s cabin (above) was a departure from prevailing Motor City practice as well, with the instruments and controls clustered tightly around the driver. A single instrument in the steering column support housed the speedometer, fuel level, voltmeter, water temperature, and oil pressure gauges. In keeping with Preston Tucker’s personal theories about highway safety, there was no instrument panel as such. In anticipation of a crash, passengers were invited to dive into the open area under the dash, which Tucker envisioned as a sort of survival cell.

Since all 51 Tuckers produced by the company were essentially pilot models, components were frequently borrowed from other makes (actually, a not uncommon practice to this day). The steering wheel is a supplier overstock or second that was originally produced for Lincoln.

The Tucker 48’s powerplant (below) was an adaptation of the Franklin 0-335 aircraft/helicopter engine. A flat six that Tucker converted from air to water cooling, the engine displaced 335 cubic inches and developed 166 hp, powerful for the time. To secure a supply of engines, Tucker bought out Air-Cooled Motors, the manufacturer. The original production transmission was an ad-hoc affair as well, an adaptation of the Cord 810/812 unit complete with its Bendix electric shifter.  Car no. 1029 is equipped with the Tucker Y1 transmission, a larger, improved version of the Cord gearbox.

 

 

Of course, we know how all this turns out, unfortunately. The Tucker experiment ended in 1948, almost as quickly as it started. Preston Tucker’s dream was defeated, arguably, by his own inexperience in manufacturing, and also by the extreme skepticism of several federal agencies that he was operating on the level. To this day, the Tucker story remains one of the most controversial stories in automotive history—which only makes this car, Tucker no. 1029, all the more intriguing and desirable. Photography copyright Jason Schnabel courtesy of RM Sotheby’s.